Film Review: Friends With Benefits

Friends With Benefits is the second film this year about fuck buddies. Following in the footsteps of No Strings Attached, there seems to be a shift in direction for rom-coms in this post-modern era where the done thing is to mock the traditional format's enshrined conventions. And yet everything it tries to do for reinventing the genre all inevitably comes full circle when you realise that, hang on a second, this is a rom-com.

Dylan (Timberlake) is a successful web designer based in LA recently dumped by his girlfriend on account of being too emotionally unavailable. Jamie (Kunis) is a corporate headhunter in New York, also recently dumped for being "damaged" and having a too idealistic view of love. Both vowing henceforth to act like George Clooney in a bid to not get hurt next time round, the two meet when Jamie sets Dylan up for an interview at GQ magazine. The disillusioned couple become friends and soon hitch upon a plan to service each other without any of those pesky emotions getting involved.

Friends With Benefits ultimately falls foul of the same serendipitously cliched trap Hollywood lays for all its rom-coms. It must follow the formula where one person expresses unreciprocated love, only for the other person to realise they've made a huge mistake whereby the third act they kiss and make up through some grand gesture at an iconic location. There's only one manner in which a film of this nature will be allowed to end, and that's where everything is resolved in a way that will never happen to you. That's not to say that Friends With Benefits isn't fun, but for all it does to profess its difference it eventually succumbs to the same cliches and consequently feels a little hypocritical. Indeed, it goes great lengths to scorning rom-com norms, even inserting a little mock film featuring Jason Segel which rips on every shibboleth used in the genre. Of course this movie wouldn't really work if Dylan and Jamie did their business and went their separate ways at the end, no harm done. Those irksome things called emotions have to get in the way and send their initial agreement down shit creek without a paddle. Consequently it means the characters become slaves to the stereotypes they seek to smash whereby the end was never really in doubt.

But! And yes there is a but! Friends With Benefits has a spark which is much to do with its fantastic cast and script. Timberlake for one seems to be carving out quite a name for himself as an actor, turning out decent performances in The Social Network and Bad Teacher. He's equally adept at Dylan, a slightly effeminate meterosexual with intimacy issues. Kunis also glimmers as an insecure old romantic looking for the same true love shown in the very films she mocks. The banter between the two is sharp. You know when you look back on a moment and you think "fuck, that's what I should have said"? Well, these two cats will say the right thing at the right time without fail. Indeed, Timberlake and Kunis' chemistry add a vitality to proceedings which sets this film apart from the other mush in the genre. You just enjoy watching them, and that's almost enough. The supporting cast are also fantastic. Woody Harrelson is superb as Tommy, a vivaciously gay colleague who offers Dylan the chance to join him and "troll for cock". Likewise, Patricia Clarkson steals more than a scene as Jamie's alcoholic, free-loving Mum while Jenna Elfman is perfect as Dylan's world-weary sister. However, the quietly understated role of Dylan's Alzheimers afflicted father, played by Richard Jenkins, is pure gold. In his lucid moments Mr. Harper grounds proceedings by offering his pearls of wisdom. In his not-so-lucid moments he's running about with his trousers round his ankles.

While Friends With Benefits doesn't add anything new to the genre but it still manages to make this overused formula entertaining. The cast is excellent as is the onscreen chemistry. It's cute and enjoyable (if these things don't already sicken you) and a hell of a lot better than this year's earlier attempt, No Strings Attached. Timberlake and Kunis bring a glib, relaxed aura, never taking themselves too seriously which only makes them more likeable. They just do it better than Kutcher and Portman. If No Strings Attached were the missionary position, Friends With Benefits is the Kama Sutra.

Film Review: No Strings Attached

No Strings Attached attempts to make a romcom out of a modern and less conventional form of relationships, 'fuck buddies'. Emma (Portman) and Adam (Kutcher) are two young things whose paths seem to keep crossing every now and again. After another chance meeting the couple finally get together and embark on a purely sexual relationship without all the emotional involvement. Naturally things become more complicated than the original agreement envisaged.

You don't need a PhD in Romcomonomics from the University of Predictable Papp to guess what happens next. Feelings begin to simmer, crisis occurs, only for reconciliation, unicorns and rainbows to win the day. Admittedly there are some amusing snappy one-liners and No Strings Attached can be funny in places. Adam's friend Wallace (Ludacris) for example chastises Adam and his Dad (Kline) for being "tunnel buddies" after finding out that they've both been banging Adam's ex (Lovibond). But these moments are brief, the majority of the material revolving around brazen and, worse still, flatly delivered sex jokes.

Such is the insipid nature of No Strings Attached that it is rather difficult to identify with. Kutcher is stiff and it appears a wonder how Portman won an Oscar recently, turning in a lifeless performance completely the opposite from her role in Black Swan. While Portman is supposed to be the awkward, emotionally unavailable partner in the relationship, she looks to be more out of her comfort zone with the role than anything else. You'd be right to question whether Portman can act at all and while the setting is familiar for Kutcher there just seems to be no care for it. Likewise, Adam's Dad is just a shameless copy of Dustin Hoffman's character in Meet the Parents who commands nowhere near the same amount of charisma or charm.

The one thing No Strings Attached does have going for it is its slightly different take on the romcom genre. However it ultimately all comes back to base in the end. It's very difficult to have this sort of a relationship without feelings becoming stirred in one of the involved parties and as such the conclusion was always inevitable. Consequently it is not quite as unique as it tries to be from the outset. While the premise is reasonably solid everything about No Strings Attached is just 'off' in a wholly unsatisfying manner. Hopefully the carbon-copy Friends With Benefits, starring Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis, might deal with the whole fuck buddy dictum much better.